


What keeps us up in the dead of night

by elizabethemerald



Series: Post Wizards Fic [2]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Multi, post wizards fic, slaps roof these kids can fit so much trauma in them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26183335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabethemerald/pseuds/elizabethemerald
Summary: The Trollhunters have gone through a lot. They have faced so much together. And their adventures have left their marks on their bodies.
Relationships: Toby Domzalski/Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez
Series: Post Wizards Fic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883965
Comments: 10
Kudos: 74





	What keeps us up in the dead of night

**Author's Note:**

> This story would immediately follow my previous Post Wizards fic. The trollhunters Trio are still staying Barbara's room as they are resting and recovering from their adventures. Unfortunately their rest is disturbed by the phantom pain and nightmares.

Jim sat bolt upright, his chest heaving. His hand flew to cover his heart as another shooting pain blasted through him. Each breath came in short pained gasps, his vision whiting out for a moment as the pain became almost more than he could stand. 

He stumbled from his bed, pulling his shirt over his head one handed. He expected to see a dull red glow on his chest, and feared the glow would be yellow instead, but there was nothing. He bumped into the doorway as he tripped into the bathroom. With another pained gasp he fumbled for the light. 

Jim closed his eyes tight for a moment, as the bright light swamped his senses. When he was able to crack them open his eyes were drawn immediately to the scar on his chest. The circle where the amulet had sat, the jagged mark of the shard that he had pushed into his heart. Their magic was gone, but the scar they left remained. 

He rubbed the scar slowly, now he could see it wasn’t glowing. He wasn’t about to lose his will and be forced to hurt those he cared about. It still hurt, the shooting pain a shadow of what he had gone through but extreme enough now to still take his breath away, however he was still in control. He leaned closer to the mirror to examine the scar when he caught a hint of movement in the reflection. 

Jim whirled, a snarl on his lips, his fingers bared as if he still had claws. Then he froze. 

“Claire?” Jim whispered softly. “What are you doing awake?”

Claire smiled at him, though her smile appeared forced and the corners of her eyes were pinched. 

“I imagine the same thing you are.” Claire’s voice was strained. And now that Jim could look at her more closely he could see she held her arms tight to her chest as she sat on the lip of the bathtub. He knelt down next to her, a grimace of pain flashing across his face. 

“Your arms are hurting again?” 

Claire nodded, her jaw clenched, her eyes squeezed shut. 

“It had got better for a while there, but after...everything… they’ve started hurting again.”

“I’m sorry Claire-” Jim paused, glancing at the light switch that he had turned on when he entered. “Why were you sitting in the dark?”

Claire’s smile was a little less forced for a second. 

“Please. The shadows hold no secrets from me.”

To emphasize her point the shadows in the room swirled around her, covering and obscuring her completely. When they receded, her body rocked forward, her arms pressed even tighter to her chest, as a hiss of pain forced its way past her gritted teeth. 

Before either could say anything more a thump from their bedroom brought them both to their feet. 

“Claire? JIM!” A voice called from the bedroom. 

“We’re in here, Toby!” They said at the same time. 

After a moment Toby limped heavily into the room. He took in the two of them for a moment as he leaned heavily on the doorframe. 

“Hey Tobes.” “Hey TP.” Jim and Claire said right after each other. 

“Hey Jimbo. Claire-bear.” Toby replied. He looked at them again. His eyes moving quickly, taking in Jim’s hand still rubbing absently at his scar and Claire’s arms still tightly crossed over her chest. “Bad pain day?”

They both nodded, unnecessarily. 

“Let’s go down stairs. Maybe some hot chocolate will help.” Toby said. He pushed off the wall while Jim helped Claire rise. Jim was very careful not to touch her arms. Toby met them in the hall way, a cane in his hand. 

“Your knee acting up too?” Jim asked, the three of them slowly making their way down the stairs. 

Toby nodded. “Turns out all that gravity manipulation isn’t good on the ol’ joints. Your mom thinks it’s early on set arthritis.”

Jim grunted, either in acknowledgement or in pain as he pressed his hand to his chest again. Toby’s cane slipped on the stairs causing him to jostle Claire. She hissed in pain but helped steady him before he fell. 

The three of them finally made it downstairs to the living room. Steve and Krel were sleeping on the couch, so they walked as softly as they could to the kitchen. Claire noticed Steve was mumbling something in his sleep but she couldn’t make out what. 

When they were all in the kitchen Jim immediately pulled an ice pack out of the freezer to put on his still bare chest. Toby filled up the electric kettle and turned it on. Claire took the ice pack from Jim, wrapped it in a towel, then handed it back to him. Then she took over the sink, letting the cold water run over her hands and arms. 

“Oh Toby, don’t use water, we can make better hot chocolate with milk.” Jim said. 

“The water’s not for the hot chocolate.” Toby pulled a rubber bottle out from under the sink. “Dr. L’s been keeping this here for me, since I’ve been spending so much time here, while you were...away.”

Jim set to warming up the milk one handed, the other keeping the ice pack pressed to his chest. Claire started humming to herself quietly as the cold water ran over her arms. When the kettle was boiled, Toby filled the hot water bottle and pressed it gently to his knee. 

Over their quiet sounds in the kitchen they could hear Steve’s mumbling reaching a fever pitch. Claire turned off the water when he started shouting in his sleep. 

“No. Lancelot!” He shouted, his limbs flailing as he tried to fight whatever plagued him in his dreams. “No!”

His final scream brought him bolt up right, startling Krel from his sleep as well. The trio were at his side immediately. He panted, his eyes wild, as he took them in. His fists were up like he was about to punch one of them. Though when he recognized them he tried to bluster his way out. It was Jim who put his hand on Steve’s shoulder. 

“We have nightmares too.” Jim said, then nodded toward the kitchen. “Come on, we were just making some hot chocolate.”

Krel stood as well and followed them back into the kitchen. He dragged the blanket he had been using off the couch and kept it wrapped around himself. He patted Steve on the shoulder as they walked. 

“Do you want to talk about it, blond oaf?” He asked. Steve just shook his head, but looked thankful. 

As Jim set out mugs of cocoa for each of them, he rubbed his hand down his face. 

“I wonder if there is some magical cure for...well, all of this.” He gestured to the collection of sleepy teens in his kitchen. 

“Hmm. Maybe Douxie knows something.” Claire murmured more to herself. 

She put out her hand and the shadows in the dim kitchen leapt to her command, coalescing into a sphere at her fingertips. She winced, and grit her teeth, before breathing softly onto the shadow ball. 

“Hisirdoux.” She said to the orb. The magic swirled through with purple streaks before flashing dimly blue. In the orb in her hands Douxie’s face appeared, his face smooshed into a pillow. He opened one eye, before squinting it shut again, his face lit by a blue light.

“Claire?” He mumbled. 

“Hey Teach.” Claire replied. 

“Mmm. Archie what time is it?” Douxie muttered to the side of what they could see in the orb. 

“It is currently five in the morning.” Archie’s annoyed voice could be heard. 

“So that means it’s only two in the morning in Arcadia.” Douxie sat up, quickly rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“There are no world ending emergencies right now.” She clarified quickly. “We were just hoping for some advice.”

Douxie yawned and stretched. “Of course. I’m at your service. Who all is there?”

Claire tossed the shadow orb to the wall then spread her hands apart. The orb hovered close to the wall then changed and grew until it was the same size and basic shape as a decent flat screen TV. Douxie mimicked the same motion and they could suddenly see more of the room he was in. 

Both Krel and Steve raised their eyebrows as they saw that Douxie apparently slept in just a pair of loose sweat pants. Claire had to cover her mouth to keep her giggle from escaping. 

“Hello Jim. And uh, company.” Douxie said. “So what has you all up at this hour, if not an end of the world crisis?”

Jim waved to Douxie, then gestured to the scar on his chest. “Well, this thing woke me up with shooting pain.”

“I’ve got magical trauma from dark magic and nightmares.” Claire said. 

“Nightmares here too.” Steve said softly, feeling more comfortable opening up with everyone else doing it to.

“Same here.” Krel said. Steve glanced at him in surprise before refocusing on Douxie. 

Douxie opened his mouth to respond when Toby spoke over him. 

“Repeated and extreme gravitational shifts have caused all of the cartilage in my knees and hips to break down, leaving me with severe joint pain.” 

Douxie paused his face thoughtful for a moment. “I didn’t realize that was a consequence of gravity manipulation.”

“Yeah, neither did I!” Toby said, his arms crossed. 

“We were hoping you might know a spell or something that might help us?” Claire said. 

“Unfortunately, no. If there were some magical cure for 900 years of barely acknowledged trauma, I definitely would have found it.” He hesitated, glancing aside. Archie came and sat on his lap as he ran his hands through his long hair. “It’s as my master- uh as Merlin always used to say; ‘Magic is not a permissible shortcut to hard work.’”

He sighed, his head drooping to his chest. Archie stood to push his head against his wizard’s chin. They could barely hear the dragon-cat purring as he tried to comfort Douxie. 

“As far as I’m aware the only solution to your nightmares and phantom pains is hard work. Therapy. Maybe medication. Addressing the trauma and growing from it.” He stood up moving away from the view of everyone in the kitchen though he kept talking. “I can however write up some small spells or potions that you will be able to make, Claire. They will help ease the pain, hold your nightmares at bay, something to help you on that path to recovery.”

He reappeared a few seconds later with a book in his hands. Krel stopped examining the shadowy window Claire had created to stare open mouthed as Douxie’s sweats slipped a little further down his hips. 

“I know it’s not a lot, but it will help in small ways, and maybe make dealing with all of this a little easier for all of you.” Douxie said as he thumbed through the book. 

Claire grimaced, the strain of keeping the communication scry open, already adding to the pain in her body. She wasn’t sure she could cast another spell tonight. 

“What is happening?” A small voice said. 

“Oh sorry for waking you Nari.” Douxie said, facing to his left away from what the others could see. “The Trollhunters in Arcadia called for some magical advice.”

Nari jumped up onto Douxie’s bed, landing on all fours on the bed and walking across the bed to look at the Trollhunters. She tilted her head from side to the other, her antlers rocking back and forth as her bright eyes stared at them. 

“You are being troubled by your pain and fears.” She said, it wasn’t a question, but they all nodded anyway. “Claire of the shadow magic, if you can stand to make a small portal, my magic may provide some relief for you. At least enough so that you can return to sleep.”

Claire grit her teeth, one hand grabbing Jim’s arm, as the other started to cast one of her portals. She squeezed Jim’s arm, and Toby stepped to put his hand on her back. A soft growl came from her as the whirling portal took shape. 

As soon as the portal opened, Nari jumped foward, and moved her hands together, creating a green glowing ball. She passed it through the small portal and it came out into the Lake House kitchen. 

There was a collective sigh of relief from all the kids there. The tension dropped from Claire’s shoulders and her face lost it’s pinched look. Jim set his ice pack on the counter as he took a shuttering breath of relief. Toby set his hot water bottle in the sink and leaned his cane against the counter. 

“Hey Teach, I’ll call you later to get those spells from you.” Claire said, her voice suddenly heavy with exhaustion. The portal cut out as soon as Nari’s magic orb passed through and the communication scry cut out before she had even finished speaking. 

Krel and Steve both dragged their feet back to the couch, the green orb following them. Jim grabbed a few more blankets out of the hall closet, then slumped to the ground next to them. Claire and Toby curled up under the blankets with him. In was but the work of a moment, before all five of them fell back asleep. Their pain, gone, for now. Their nightmares, held at bay. A restful sleep found each of them. It wouldn’t remove the long road filled with hard work that was ahead of each of them, but at least for one night, they could sleep until dawn undisturbed. 

In the morning Barbara Lake came down stairs to find a pile of five teenagers all asleep under the soft light of a glowing green orb, that faded away to nothing in the morning light. 

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired following a conversation on Tumblr.   
> Jim has phantom pain from the shard, as well as the Decimaar blade. Plus PTSD from everything he went through. His pain is relatively new to him and the others.   
> Claire's pain feels like severe fibromyalgia, a bone deep ache in the muscles and joints in her hands and arms from the ultimate portal. She's had the pain ever since, so Jim and Toby are aware of it, however only Jim is aware of how bad it is for her.   
> Toby's gravity powers completely messed his joints up.   
> Steve has nightmares from losing Lancelot, another father figure, in an especially horrifying manner.   
> Krel has a bunch of nightmares caused by what Morando did, and losing his parents.


End file.
